Three of the most important football tournaments of Fiji, the Battle of Giants, Inter-District Championship and Fiji Fact, already know their venues for the editions of 2020 season.
The Battle of Giants is set to be played in Lautoka at Churchill Park, the Inter-District Championship will take place in the Fijian capital Suva at ANZ Stadium and the Fiji Fact will be played at Subrail Park, in Labasa.
Labasa celebrating IDC title – Fiji FA
The competitions are still waiting to have a fixed date, but it is known BOG will be played this August, while IDC and Fiji Fact will be played in September and November respectively.
Labasa won both last editions of Battle of Giants and Inter-District Championship, while Nadi is the current title holders of Fiji Fact.
The Solomon Islands youth international Charles Mani and his side Hibiscus Coast AFC are preparing for their debut in the season in Lotto NRFL Division 2, in New Zealand. The 18-year-old attacker is already in the senior team of Hibiscus and played in a friendly match this Saturday (06th June) against Northland in Auckland.
The result could not be better for Mani and his new club: 6-2 in favour of Hibiscus. Mani could not have a better start for his side as the young Solomon Islander recorded three assists in the clash; Mani played the entire 90 minutes to end having a very good match. “It was a bit hard in the start, but me and my teammates managed to win in this preseason match,” said Mani.
Mani (left) and a teammate after the match
Mani also stated he is confident for the new season – their debut game will be against Takapuna in the next weekend: “I am 100% ready for the game, for the new season. I see all my teammates ready for the challenge,” explained the Solomon Islander player.
This is Mani’s first season out of New Zealand; the striker could not play any official matches in New Zealand in the past year when playing for Glenfield – a football player is only allowed by FIFA to play official games out of his country if he is at least 18-years-old, as Mani celebrated his 18th birthday in February he is now allowed to play.
Mani in Solomon Islands colours
In 2019, in the school break in New Zealand – Mani is also finishing his studies in the country while playing for Hibiscus Coast AFC – he came back to Solomon Islands where he played for Kossa in Telekom S-League, the top-tier football league in his homenation.
Charles helped Solomon Islands to qualify for their first ever FIFA football tournament as they finished 2nd in the 2018 OFC U16 Championship. The young talented played represented his country in Brazil at U17 FIFA World Cup featuring all three matches of the group stage against Italy, Paraguai and México.
Samuela Kautogais back to Western Springs after some months playing for Rewa in Fiji. The 33-year-old player is going to play the 2020 Lotto NRFL Premier Men, the main football league from Auckland region in New Zealand winter football season.
It is confirmed. Brian Kaltak will represent Central United in New Zealand winter football season for the second straight year. The 26-year-old defender from Vanuatu was an important player for Central last year.
Central United is well known because they always count on many players from Auckland City in their winter season squad. They are currently playing Lotto NRFL Premier Division, the top-tier of football in Auckland’s region.
Fijian Shuiab Khan is set to play for Central United in 2020 New Zealand winter football season. The 24-year-old left back is returning to Central after representing Waitakere United in 2019-20 ISPS Handa Premiership season.
It is going to be Khan’s second winter season with Central United as he represented the club in 2019 Lotto NRFL Premier Men’s tournament. He finished the last year’s winter season with two goals scored in 22 league matches. He also played one match in Chatham Cup, the biggest football cup in New Zealand.
The strong forward Jean-Philippe Saïko is back to the Mobil Super Ligue, the top-tier of football in New Caledonia. The player most recently played for Tasman United in New Zealand ISPS Handa Premiership, where the player helped the Nelson-based side to have their best campaign ever in the most important football league of New Zealand; Saïko scored eight goals in 14 matches for his former club, being one of the standout player in the last season.
Saïko, that already represented his country nine times and scored 11 goals, also made impact in New Caledonia when player of AS Magenta – but now the striker is going to represent a new club: AS Lössi. Mobil Super Ligue is about to restart after the COVID-19 break, despite there are still some regarding the new schedule of the competition.
Jean-Philippe Saïko celebrating a goal for Tasman United – NZF Media
After impressing in the last season in New Zealand, Saïko comes to be one of the most important players in the New Caledonian national league and a key figure for AS Lössi in their struggle to be back to be back to OFC Champions League – a competition the team already played in the past, but most recently the rivals Hienghène Sport and AS Magenta had dominated the spots for the regional tournament. In 2019 Lössi also ended up being beaten by Hienghène in the grand final match of the Coupe de Calédonie, Saïko and his new teammates will be looking to reset the club to the top of New Caledonian football.
He underwent surgery one month after getting injured to repair his knee and begin his rehab – “Surgery went well, and rehab has also been coming along well too. The good thing is that the lockdown gave me more time to rehab and not miss the winter season,” explained Abba.
Abba (right) playing for Napier City Rovers
In fact the lockdown due to COVID-19 really helped him once the ISPS Handa Premiership season was called off and winter football season kick-off was postponed from April to June. The 30-year-old forward also confessed that he spent some time thinking about retire from football due to this injury.
It has been almost five months since Abba underwent surgery but his knee is not fully recovered from the severe injury yet. However he is working hard to stay fit – “I was gaining a bit of weight during the lockdown as I could not train or go for runs. Once we moved to lockdown’s level 3 and I was able to start running I could focus on losing weight quickly,” he said.
Abba (left) played 2019-20 ISPS Handa Premiership season for Waitakere United
He was in talks to join Forrest Hill Milford for the winter football season before getting injured last December. At this moment he is still some steps away from playing a full match. Despite the caution he keeps his optimism about returning to football – “Being fully recovered on next month is my goal […] I need to work a little more on my knee and fitness,” he pointed.
Playing in New Zealand for over a decade, Abba also dreams about returning to Solomon Islands National Football Team – “If they are interested I will be available,” he stated. The next international challenge of Solomon Islands is not scheduled yet once 2020 OFC Nations Cup was cancelled.
Andrew is willing to return to National Team
Recovering from injury is much more than rest and then exercise. An athlete must have the desire to get well soon otherwise the psychological health goes away. Andrew is being a true warrior fighting day in day out to do what he loves: playing football.
The number of Fijian football players abroad is increasing a lot. The biggest example is legendary forward Roy Krishna who last played for ATK from India. However there are footballers from Fiji in other ends of the world like Scott Wara and Nicho Prasad in Europe and many others in Australia and New Zealand as well.
Son of a Fijian couple, Mudaliar was born in Australia on March 17 2002. The 18-year-old goalkeeper is the current Brisbane Strikers’ starting goalkeeper in the U-20 NPL Queensland, one of the biggest U-20 leagues in Australia. He is also an option in the main squad as he is always called up for senior matches as a back-up for starting keeper Brendan Wright.
The Strikers hold a partnership with Spanish top-tier club Leganés since February. The main purpose of this association is identifying and nurturing talented Australian players in their Madrid based LaLiga Club so there is an open door in Europe for Mudaliar.
Mudaliar is a promising goalkeeper
Despite being so young, he has the opportunity to train in better conditions and prove his talent in Australia – something that must be noticed by FFA. However it is not known if he would be interested on representing Fiji internationally at this moment.
FFA and National Team head coach Flemming Serritslev must have his young talent in sight. It would be a matter of time to see him playing for Fiji National Team if he accepts to represent his parents’ country.
Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) confirmed today that this year’s OFC U-17 Women’s Championship edition is cancelled due to COVID-19 and New Zealand is qualified for FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup that will be held in India next year.
The Oceanian spot for the next World Cup was given to New Zealand as they are the most successful country in the continental competition’s history. They won all editions of the OFC U-17 Women’s Championship.
New Zealand qualified for 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
It is important to remember that this tournament was scheduled to take place in 2019 but it was postponed due to the measles outbreak. According to the confederation, the next edition of the OFC U-16 Women’s Championship is currently foreseen to bel held in 2021.
In an exclusive interview with Oceania Football Center, 28-year-old central defender Mickael Tiaou revealed that he had left New Caledonia for France – he landed on the European continent at the beginning of the previous week (29 May). The player, who has already represented New Caledonia seven times, was in the squad of AS Magenta in the group phase of the OFC Champions League 2020, where the team won all these two matches against AS Tiare Tahiti and the Solomon Warriors.
Tiaou in 2019 OFC Champions League – Phototek
“I had expected to play the quarter-finals of the OFC Champions League 2020 for AS Magenta and the OFC Nations Cup for New Caledonia, but then Coronavirus happened and changed everything. It is something new, we have to adapt to it,” he said – “I came to France for personal reasons, I think my time in New Caledonian football is over now,” the defender added.
Magenta led OFC Champions League Group C, played in Nouméa, and Tiaou is another player that the New Caledonian powerhouse lost. Earlier this year, key players such as Émile Ounei and Richard Sele moved to AS Tiga and Jean-Philippe Saïko moved to New Zealand to defend the colours of Tasman United.
But football is not over for Tiaou: “I am going to look for a club here in France to continue playing,” the player explained – something that can be a good option for the player to develop his game in a better footballing environment than Oceania.
Mobil Super Ligue – the top tier of New Caledonian football – is still on hold and a new schedule is currently being reviewed by the local football federation and clubs. Magenta won their first game of the season 6-0 against the newly promoted AS Kunié – the only matchweek played in the league before the forced break.
Oceania Football Center 